It's been a minute since I tried to puzzle out a MtG and this was a real one to do for the month of Spooktober. As usual when I do builds for planeswalkers, I obviously can't quite match their power level, but I think I managed pretty well here and was even able to pick up spells like plane shift, including a way outside of just Ashiok's class abilities. As always, I want to mention that this build and the gear for it is picked in a vacuum without consideration for what adventure it may be in, so certain options might be better in specific situations.
Let's get into the build for Ashiok from Magic the Gathering!
ASHIOK
CHARACTER Ashiok
SOURCE Magic the Gathering
GOALS
o Ashiok is a blue and black planeswalker from the Magic the Gathering TCG who reaches into the nightmares of their victims to bring their fears to life
o Uses the minions to tear down those that think themselves untouchable and believes that fear is the greatest equalizer
o Made a bargain with Phenax, a god of lies, to gain greater power in exchange for helping him to achieve his dark designs
o Specifically represented through four planeswalker cards, all of which have some effect to send cards from the deck into the graveyard or exile, often translated as losing one’s mind in-game
o Creates monsters from the nightmares of his victims as seen in both Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Nightmare Muse
o Ashiok, Sculptor of Fears can bring a creature back from the grave
o The same Ashiok can also take control of all creatures that a single opponent controls
o As demonstrated in Ashkiok’s Erasure, they can completely wipe a memory from a victim’s head
o They are frequently featured in cards based around discarding cards from the hand or straight from the deck
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Deep Fetchling – negative resistance
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Shrouded Mien
o Skill Increase: Deception (trained)
o Skill Feat: Lengthy Diversion
Background: Pilgrim
o Ability Boosts: +Charisma, +Intelligence
o Skills: Religion (trained), Phenax Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Pilgrim’s Token
Class & Subclass: Witch with the Night Patron
o Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence
o Skills: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Crafting (trained), Intimidation (trained), Occultism (trained), Society (trained), Stealth (trained), Thievery (trained)
o Familiar’s Spells: Cantrips – chill touch, daze, detect magic, ghost sound, haunting hymn, mage hand, message, read aura, shield, telekinetic projectile; 1st – animate dead, fear, grim tendrils, ill omen, phantom pain, sleep
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 14)
With Ashiok’s creepy atmosphere, ability to travel to different planes, and their head being nothing buts wisps, the kayal ancestry felt a proper fit for them with the Shrouded Mien ancestry feat helping them in the trickery and deceit they frequently engage in. Picking out a background was tough, but I ultimately landed on pilgrim for its religious connotations, tying them to Phenax, as well as their role as a traveler as all planeswalkers are. Witch gives us an occult caster that has ties to something greater, such as Phenax, without exactly worshipping it. Furthermore, the night patron plays into Ashiok’s association with nightmares while I mainly looked towards spells with fear and/or mental effects.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Basic Lesson – Lesson of Dreams
o Skill Feat: Recognize Spell
o Familiar’s Spells: 1st – agitate, command
o Gear: cantrip deck (5-pack)
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Occultism (expert)
o Familiar’s Spells: 2nd – hideous laughter, paranoia
o Gear: +1 sickle, cantrip deck (5-pack), ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Counterspell
o Skill Feat: Magical Shorthand
o Familiar Spells: 2nd – illusory creature, umbral extraction
o Gear: skinsaw mask, +1 sickle, hand of the mage, cantrip deck (5-pack)
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 12, Cha 16)
o Ancestry Feat: Shadowy Disguise
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Familiar’s Spells: 3rd – agonizing despair, mind reading
o Gear: +1 striking sickle, skinsaw mask, pendant of the occult, hand of the mage, cantrip deck (5-pack), ring of discretion
I’ll acknowledge that Ashiok loses out a little bit by taking the Lesson of Dreams as it gives them the sleep spell, which they already received from their patron, but the focus spell that it grants works nicely with the rest of their build. I initially selected the Counterspell feat for Ashiok before realizing that witches don’t gain access to Clever Counterspell, but I still think it’s worth keeping around in honor of Ashiok’s link to blue mana and their habit of countering spells. Magical Shorthand is a handy, early-level feat for any casters that learn their spells. Given Ashiok’s posing as different individuals during their time on Theros, the Shadowy Disguise ancestry feat helps, making it so that they don’t have to prepare the spell.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Greater Lessons – Lesson of Shadow
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Familiar’s Spells: 3rd – chilling darkness, phantom prison, rouse skeletons
o Gear: +1 explorer’s clothing, +1 striking sickle, demon mask, pendant of the occult, hat of disguise, hand of the mage
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master)
o Familiar Spells: 4th – nightmare, umbral graft
o Gear: staff of the dreamlands, +1 explorer’s clothing, instructions for lasting agony, +1 striking sickle, skinsaw mask, pendant of the occult
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Reach Spell
o Skill Feat: Battle Cry
o Familiar Spells: 4th – modify memory, phantasmal killer
o Gear: mirror of sleeping vigil, staff of the dreamlands, lesser dread armor rune, +1 explorer’s clothing, +1 striking sickle, demon mask
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Shadow Sight
o Skill Increase: Thievery (expert)
o Familiar Spells: 5th – shadow walk, hallucination
o Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, mirror of sleeping vigil, greater hat of disguise, staff of the dreamlands, 5, +1 striking sickle
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 14, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Quickened Casting
o Skill Feat: Terrified Retreat
o Skill Increase: Athletics (trained)
o Familiar’s Spells: 5th – invoke spirits, summon entity
o Gear: mask of the banshee, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, spellbook of redundant enchantment, mirror of sleeping vigil, staff of the dreamlands, +1 striking sickle
Delving into the Lessons of Shadow is thematically on-point for Ashiok and also helps to capture that feels of turning an aspect of a creature against itself, such as when they take a creature from a player. At this point, we finally start building up Ashiok’s Intimidation with skill increases and feats, allowing them to inflict fear even without their spells. The dive into the Thievery skill is to grant Ashiok a better chance of successfully using umbral extraction and umbral graft, which are meant to further reflect Ashiok’s ability to steal from other players. I do find myself running into a bit of an issue where the witch is so lacking in feats that I pick up Reach Spell, which doesn’t really mesh with anything Ashiok does. Quickened Casting is certainly handy at least.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Prescient Planner
o Skill Increase: Thievery (master)
o Familiar’s Spells: 6th – dominate, feeblemind
o Gear: +2 striking sickle, mask of the banshee, dreamstone, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, mirror of sleeping vigil, greater hat of disguise
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Hex Focus
o Skill Feat: Terrifying Resistance
o Familiar’s Spells: 6th – phantasmal calamity, teleport
o Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, +2 striking sickle, greater demon mask, dreamstone, spellbook of redundant enchantment, greater mentalist’s staff
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Shadow’s Assault
o Skill Increase: Occultism (master)
o Familiar’s Spells: 7th – mask of terror, warp mind
o Gear: +2 greater striking sickle, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater insistent doorknocker, greater demon mask, dreamstone, greater pendant of the occult
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Reflect Spell
o Skill Feat: Quick Recognition
o Familiar’s Spells: 7th – plane shift, shadow raid
o Gear: pale lavender ellipsoid aeon stone, +2 greater striking sickle, moderate dread armor rune, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater demon mask, greater endless grimoire
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 12, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 21, Wis 16, Cha 18)
o General Feat: Prescient Consumable
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (legendary)
o Familiar’s Spells: 8th – canticle of everlasting grief, undermine reality
o Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of speed, pale lavender ellipsoid aeon stone, +2 greater striking sickle, greater insistent doorknocker, bag of holding (type III)
These few levels, there isn’t too much going on. It’s standard but useful stuff, such as Hex Focus allowing to Refocus for more and Shadow’s Assault granting Ashiok some extra attack capabilities that they don’t have to prepare. Reflect Spell builds into the Blue’s ability to counter spells and Ashiok’s ability to take from others. The Prescient Planner pair of feats are my attempt at capturing Ashiok’s vast and winding plans in a mechanical sense.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Effortless Concentration
o Skill Feat: Scare to Death
o Familiar’s Spells: 8th – maze, scintillating pattern
o Gear: selenite crystal ball, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, major endless grimoire, pale lavender ellipsoid aeon stone, +2 greater striking sickle, moderate dread armor rune
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Pierce the Light
o Skill Increase: Thievery (legendary)
o Familiar’s Spells: 9th – divinity leech, unspeakable shadow
o Gear: +3 greater striking sickle, major endless grimoire, selenite crystal ball, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of speed, pale lavender ellipsoid aeon stone
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Split Hex
o Skill Feat: Disturbing Knowledge
o Familiar’s Spells: 9th – telepathic demand, weird
o Gear: diadem of intellect, +3 greater striking sickle, major staff of impossible visions, selenite crystal ball, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, major endless grimoire
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Incredible Investiture
o Skill Increase: Deception (expert)
o Familiar’s Spells: 10th – alter reality, gate
o Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, diadem of intellect, dread blindfold, +3 greater striking sickle, major endless grimoire, selenite crystal ball
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 14, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 22, Wis 18, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Patron’s Truth
o Skill Feat: Lasting Coercion
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (trained)
o Familiar’s Spells: 10th – nullify, shadow army
o Gear: greater mask of the banshee, +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, archivist’s gaze, cauldron of nightmares, +3 greater striking sickle, major staff of impossible visions
Some of these feats as we come up on the end are taken for a lack of better/more appropriate options rather than them being an exact fit for something, as is the case with Split Hex. Given Ashiok’s habit of summoning creatures from beyond the pale and the way that hexes function, Effortless Concentration is useful for keeping those up without burning actions on them. I would have liked to get Ashiok’s Deception to a higher proficiency given their habit of tricking and manipulating others, but Thievery ended up taking precedence to make the umbral spells work. I thought Pierce the Light played nicely into Ashiok’s existence as a planeswalker.
CONCLUSION
Our focus on mental and shadow magic successfully captures Ashiok’s mana association while animate dead,summon entity, and even malicious shadow work with the idea of bringing nightmares to life. Along that vein, the witch’s class connection to their patron is reflective of Ashiok’s own deal with Phenax while the focus on Intimidation feats plays into their obsession with fear. Among some other spells, I picked up modify memory in honor of the Ashiok’s Erasure card. With the fact that many of Ashiok’s cards involve taking control of other players’ creatures, I wanted to include some stuff that involves taking from others, and umbral theft and umbral graft both play nicely into that as well as staying in the theme of shadows.
Be sure to lemme know what you think of the build and the new format!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerd, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and are trying to get some milestones made up for. Coming up next week, we're ending our month of spooky builds with one of horror's most iconic survivors - as well as the force she survived.
Have a fantastic Friday!
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